3 to Try: High Street Beauty

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Last week saw a flying trip up to Manchester to see both my best friend and Queen B (squeal), and when one is faced with this kind of momentous outing, a little stock up on some essential beauty bits is usually in order. I strolled into Boots with only a couple of things on my 'must buy' list but, as usual, walked out with a touch more.

The Market Street Manchester Boots has a beauteous three-stand NYX concession which shone out to me like a beacon - I had been wanting to pick up another matte lip creme for a while now - but a couple of other swing-by purchases were made in the interest of sprucing up my post-work, pre-show make up look. Here's what I thought of my mini haul!

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creme in Copenhagen: For some reason, when I picked out my palm print jumpsuit for the concert the night before I had my mind set on a purple lip. I wanted something a little more wearable than my beloved NARS Ingrid though, so when I set my eyes on this beaut of a berry-hued, red and purple melange of a shade I knew it was the one. Just like the other shade I have of this formula it is easy to use, super soft and creamy, and dries down beautifully in around 30 seconds. The pigment is rich and beautiful and it doesn't dry out or crack your lips - it's basically what I imagine the definitive liquid to matte formula to be. You can see it (and the falsies!) in action in this picture.

Fleur Loves Lashes from Eyelure: Ohhhh man. I had held off on buying anything from this range for a while, mainly because I'm not a HUGE wearer of falsies and also they tend to piss me off/go wrong for me more than they actually go right. However, I was feeling a lil' fancy before the concert and picked these up on a whim after hearing Jaye rave about them. Well, my girl ain't often wrong, and she wasn't with these. Application is one of the easiest I've found and the size, shape and length of these lashes was just perfect for my eyes. I loved the soft, fluttery and full effect they gave, and the tapered shape is so flattering with longer lashes flaring out the outer corner of the eye. These are so soft and natural but also pack enough of a punch to really enhance your eye make up - top marks! I'm so happy they're reusable and I'll be able to get even more wear out of them.

L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Clay Clay-to-Spray Dry Shampoo: I can remember reading mixed reviews about this - from what I understand the shampoo and conditioner from this line went down really well, but the dry shampoo was a bit of a Marmite product. I was in a hurry, needed a bit of a refresh at my roots and couldn't find my tried-and-tested COLAB, so I picked this up. And I have to say - I loved it! The scent is a little strong so make sure you spray the product as far away as it suggests - you really don't want this in your face. The product however feels both lightweight and also really cleansing - unusual to say the least. You don't get any hideous white cast and it also doesn't feel powdery or 'sit' on the hair at all. It feels a lot more like a styling spray with light hold than a dry shampoo, and I really enjoyed that - it definitely gives your hair a little 'oomph' of volume. I imagine not everyone will get along with this, but I was very impressed.